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Hi Jamie, that happens to a lot of people. It happened to me too, I have since started loosing again. I think there are a lot of factors that contribute to the plateau. First is that yo body is adjusting to the new way you are eating and is now conserving energy. Do you get cold easier now? My body temperature has been running around 96 degrees so my body is conserving emery that way. Also a a lot of the weight we loose in the first few weeks is water weight because we are drinking so much, then when we star eating food we gain some of that back, especially if you like salt. Also watch for constipation, that can make it seem like you aren't losing. What to do then? Make sure you journal all you food on a site like livestrong.com so you can watch you sodium and protein intake and log your water. If you aren't exercising, start as long as your doctor approves. You should at least be able to walk. Yo cat track that as well on livestrong.com. Once you body quits freaking out over the cut in calories the scale will start to move again.

Ooh I misread what you were saying. Yea some people have a harder time early out getting more than a few bites in. Eventually most of us end up closer to a normal serving size (of course that’s just an average). If you feel like you are not getting in enough calories you can always supplement with broth or shakes until you can get more in.

That is not enough food or nutrition for my 3 year old granddaughter. I was an anorexic teen because I did not want to be 300-500 pounds like the rest of my family. It eventually caught up with me, but that's another story and why I had a sleeve. Anyway, my doc has limited me to 600-800 calories, which must MUST MUST include 80 grams of Protein. You had better believe I have gone back to tracking because I do not want to fall into that fear of food ever again. See a psychologist. You are wasting away and are succumbing to unhealthy patterns. This is all about being healthy and happy. Good luck, and let us know how you do.

I was in your shoes about a month ago. My nutritionists told me that I have to eat to loose weight and that 500 calories a day is not giving our bodies the proper nourishment it needs to run. I told her my worries, and also my doctor and he said its all in your head. I was diagnosed with a eating disorder as well a few years back, and I fight it everyday. I would see your doctors to see what kind of foods you can get in to up your calorie intake. It took me a month just to get up to 800 calories a day, and my god let me tell you it was hard to do. Sending lots of support your way!

As most say, white meat is leaner in fat but I am liking the chicken thighs. I have combined both in some of my crockpot meals. My walmart has just started carrying boneless, skinless chicken thigh strips.....Even at 9 months I am probably only eating about 4 oz of meat along with a small amount of vegetables. At that stage, I looked more at the protein then the calorie count.

I agree, don't over stock. I did tons of premade Protein drinks, and ordered powder off line, which is much cheaper. I still have probably 20 shakes in refrigerator. I prefer the ones I make myself, love nectar protein, no need for milk. I did the wonton soup, but splurg, get it from a Chinese restaurant, tell them just broth. I paid 2 bucks for a court. I added flavorless Protein Powder. Ebay has tons of Proteins on it, get all whey. I also love vitacost.com. Google for coupons. If it can go through a strainer soup wise my doc was ok with it. Lots of chicken broth, sugar free popcycles, Adkins makes a protein fruit Water I really liked the orange. Newlife.com is my doctor, and the company he owns, I liked all the soups he had, chicken was wonderful. Biggest suggestion I have is get powder flavorless protein and boost your protein in everything. I personally had no problems getting liquids down, a lot do. A Protein Drink shaker is a great purchase, I loved power aid calorie free, and added fruit flavored protein powder to it. I saved the empty jugs, and still use them to make Protein Drinks ahead to keep in refrigerator. G2 is also good, but does have a few calories, just make sure you get the low calorie versions. The electrolytes in them are great for you. Drink two a day, and you gto all the water you need, 64ozs. Great for carrying around house Sent from my SM-N910T using the BariatricPal App

Wow! Thanks Lissa!! I've been using MFP for a long time & never knew there was a "strength training" thing in the Cardio section! I just wore my BodyMedia armband to find out what I burned & then added it in MFP as "walking" and updated the calories accordingly. Now I can actually enter it as strength training!! I know I wasn't the original poster, but thanks a ton!!

I went on a low calorie high protein diet.Premier shakes and honey roasted peanuts for breakfast and lunch and a lean cuisine for dinner for two weeks.I lost 25 lbs on the dot in 2 weeks.and of course drinking a ton of water as well

I only had to do a 5 day preop diet and I lost 10 pounds in those 5 days. It actually wasn't too hard. Clear liquid diet with 3 protien shakes a day. Could be any kind of protien shake as long as each shake was under 200 calories. I'll admit, I cheated a bit because I drank the Oh Yeah! shakes and they were 220 calories each. Other than that, all Clear liquids. You can have as much broth (add a bullion cube for flavor), sugar free Jello, black coffee, and unsweetened tea as you want. Try to get at least 60 oz of Water each day. Most of what you're going to lose is water weight anyway. All the sodium from holiday foods will do a number on you. That's why so many people dropped so much in just a few days. When you start a diet the first thing to go is the water weight. Good luck to you. I know it sucks to be sick right before surgery. I had a sinus infection and I was scared to death to go to the doctor about it because I was afraid they would postpone my surgery so I took cold pills (non asprin kind) every four hours and used a netti pot twice daily to get rid of it without antibiotics.

Wow--thanks! I think if I had a fill every 3-4 weeks I'd be doing MUCH better. I only have 3cc's! No wonder I'm starving all the time on 1200 calories. You have done awsome and I see that you have 7.5 cc's. I wonder why my doc only does fills every 3 months? I guess its too late to change docs. My nutritionist works with my doc so I will ask her about it.

I have hired a personal trainer to help me with my exercise. I know we are suppose to increase our calorie intake when we work out but I don't know by how much? Or what to say to increase it I'm 9wks post op and eat about 500-700 calories a day . I'm estimating to work out about 1 to 1.5 hrs a day burning about 300-700 calories will my body be able to handle it ? Please help me

You have to get in more calories and much more water! Make yourself drink protein shakes if you have to, and drink water all day long. I know you'll feel better once you can get some true protein and lots more water!

Today is the day that I officially started pureed food (however I did cheat just a tiny bit by having TINY amounts Monday and Tuesday). It's exactly two weeks after my surgery, and I'm down about 10 pounds. Oddly enough, I actually have gained back a few pounds since Monday when I had very small amounts of real food. I stepped on the scale and now I'm down 8 pounds. I'm still absolutely thrilled I've been able to shed that amount in two weeks, people are already noticing!! However, I do find it odd a gained a few of those pounds back since I'm burning far more calories than I'm taking in. Has anyone ever experienced this?

i have no idea what to write... my weight IS dropping but i am eating all the wrong things .... i have no idea what to eat to keep my calories up when i work out. chicken wings, ice cream... **sigh** i need to stop. i am very pleased with my loss this week so far. i've dropped 4.75 pounds. i am not sure if it is the working out, the eating or the muscle milk.... i did buy 2 jugs of muscle milk. the peanut butter/chocolate is pretty good. i am going to try the banana cream today before i work out.

Hang in there. Instead of always having a small meal a day maybe you can just have a thinned soup. Maybe all you really want is a full tummy. In that case mix a can of bestlife recommended Progresso soup with a can of broth and eat that. You'll get full, get nutrients, but won't get alot of calories. Also, up your water intake, it will help to flush your system and help you to lose water weight quicker. Good luck to you. I hope you make your goal of 26 lbs this month. I know its alot, but you can do it. As for Kelsey, be careful gaining weight. I went to three consultations before deciding and all had the same rule, no surgery if you gain 20lbs or more between consultation and surgery date.

last friday was my three weeks with a a personal trainer and he measured me and weighed me to see how much i have lost in the past 3 weeks and im happy to say i lost 8lbs (would have been more but i gained 5lbs of muscle supposely) and almost 11 inches around my body which is awesome. i was kinda disappointed about not losing more weight in three weeks when im here working my ass off at the gym and counting calories and watching what i ate for the 3 weeks. but then i went in for a fill yesterday and met a few that was banded and have been banded longer then me and i have lost the most weight out of all them. im finally down 48lbs i just hope i dont pleateau anytime soon. i know alot of people noticed getting smaller around 30 lbs or more but truthfully i havent notice me really getting any smaller i can still wear the same clothes i was wearing before i got banded. my pants are alittle lose but not a biggie. my starting weight was 265 and im down to 217 ive been so wanting to go get a pair of smaller jeans but i guess i still have that fear i will not be able to fit in them. anyone out there that is 5'8 weighing 217 or around there can tell me what size jeans i should be wearing ( i know i know i should just get my butt up and go to the store but i just dont want to disappoint myself) i keep thinking i want to buy those sexy size 8 jeans and just hang them to the wall and hopefully sometime next year i will be able to fit in them. but for some reason i just cant do it. im guess in a way im just scared i will never fit into those jeans and i will just really disappoint myself. im hoping when i get under 200 then i will get my butt up and go out and buy a pair of jeans. haha wish me luck karen

I eat about 1200-1400 calories a day and drink probably 7-8 (if not more)bottles of H2O..I work out already pretty much as much as I can (I work and go to school fulltime) and I am still not losing the weight....I have only had 2 fills in my opinion and after doing all the research and seeing that if I wanted to I could still eat a lot...I feel that I need another fill...I only have 5cc in.....I have NO restriction AT ALL......Does that not say need another fill??? I am past the point of managing what I eat...I have cut out all fried foods, bread, sweets (treat myself very rarely) and I used to be a constant soda drinker but I have changed ALL of that........Why is it everytime I make a post on here about something its you need to learn how to manage what you eat..I am managing it and very well......but you know that surgery that I went thru.....I would like it to be helping me at least a little. esp since I paid big bucks for it....I am doing everything I know to do to get this weight off......I think my doc should be doing his part as well....its like he got the money for the surgery now screw you is how I feel!

Yes you will be able to handle it. The question is do you want the excess calories.

Great explanation. If you're still losing a pound a week, that's not a true plateau. I know it sucks to only lose 4lbs in a month... that hasn't happened for me YET since surgery, but it's happened to me plenty of times in the past with diets. Hold on to that four lbs a months because in five months, you'll be at your goal weight! I'm at five months out, and I'm terrified about hitting a plateau soon. Just my past I guess. So i'm already preparing for what I need to do to get past it. Typically when we hit a plateau, we need to change something up. Look up different types of workouts or do two-a-days (cardio for 20-30 minutes twice: once in the morning, once in the evening), or add heavier weights to our routine or more reps or try a new routine all together. Maybe have a cheat meal. I've read about zig-zag dieting where you allow yourself more calories one day. So if you're eating 800 calories a day, maybe try getting 1,000 on Saturday then back to 800 on Sunday. I've heard it's a shock to the body and can trigger weight loss. Good luck!

I Agee with tym4me, I use my WW digital scale. I also went to the dollar store and bought measuring cups and spoons. I use all of these daily. When you are counting calories these are a must have.

I'm set for Monday 4/25 and my doctor put on a 1200 daily calorie diet am with one meal being a Protein shake.... No deep fried foods, starchie foods, salt, sodium etc etc... Two days prior to surgery I do have to do a full liquid diet tho ... I see different diet plans, different doctors.... I'm 230 5"4 BMI 39.5 Erika.....

The things that are working for me (I was a bit too tight for a couple of months and realized I was eating slider stuff more than regular food because, of course, sliders don't get stuck. I got a slight unfill and feel MUCH better .... 1. JOURNAL everything you put in your mouth. There are some online journals that are free that help you track calories. Aim for 1,000-1,200 per day. 2. EAT Protein first. Get in at least 20 grams of protein in a meal. 3. Don't snack. If that means throwing away some Reese cups, then do it. It's a small sacrifice. 4. If you are really hungry, DO YOU NEED A FILL? You should be able to go 4 hours or so comfortably between meals without getting hungry. 5. Get back on track with exercise. Walking after you have dinner might help prevent night-time eating? Or walking as soon as you get home and THEN prepare dinner which would postpone eating perhaps long enough to keep you from snacking later? Sometimes, it's as much WHAT you eat as WHEN you eat it that contributes to reflux. And Libby is right .... have some "ready to eat" acceptable Snacks on hand....boiled eggs, snack-sized zip bags with carrot sticks or whatever raw vegetable you like (i know somebody who likes raw turnips, LOL). When you put your lunch together to take to work, take a small afternoon snack so that do not arrive home hungry, which will keep you from grazing as you prepare dinner. A hard boiled egg would work well since it's high in protein, easy and could be eaten at your desk as you finish your day's work.

@@rachelr28, welcome and congrats on your decision. Fellow Garden Stater here. This will be a very different experience in countless ways. Without getting too technical, basically, the idea is that in the past, we have attempted to lose weight by reducing caloric intake which results in two physiological effects: 1) reduction in metabolism by the body in an attempt to prevent weight loss and 2) dramatic increase in hunger caused by the stomach sending a hunger hormone to the brain to demand compensatory eating until the body is back to the weight it was before you started the diet. The sleeve prevents the latter from happening. You will have a stomach that is about 15% of the volume of your current stomach, meaning you will become full much faster, and on far less food. However, your body would need the volume of food you consumed before to maintain weight with all your activities and energy output, so the result will be dramatic weight loss. Your metabolism will slow, but it can't slow enough to keep up with the huge disparity between the calories you need and the calories you can intake. The surgery's most important effect is that the hunger hormone is produced in the part of your stomach that is removed irreversibly during surgery. So you wind up with a double protection against weight gain...you just can't fit very much in, nor do you want to because there's much less signaling going up to you brain telling you that you are hungry (but there's just enough from other places to get you to eat to keep you healthy). There is even some evidence that the sleeve changes the bacteria in your stomach that results by some unknown mechanism to automatically reset your "set point" down to a healthy weight, whereas right now, it is fixed at a high weight, and your body is programmed to defend obesity in any way it can. So the way the previous poster described it, with you instead of against you, is exactly right. Best of luck!

I don't post often here, but have lurked since before my surgery. I'll just go ahead and start from the beginning. So, I had surgery late September of '07, paid for by my parents (immense pressure because of that of course). I weighed 519 lbs pre-op. Didn't get restriction until about February of '08, I got off to an awesome start and lost 100-115 pounds within 6 months, this takes us to summer '08. Fall rolls around and I stall out, I can't seem to keep restriction etc. The doc checked for a leak, seemed fine. Little to no weight loss. My last fill back in September of 08, my pouch was showing beginning signs of stretching (doc said nothing serious, happens quite a bit, but I need to be careful). Well, I think this depressed me and I fell off the deep end. Stopped going to the support groups, everything. Stop going to the gym, the full nine yards. No restriction. I'm in trouble. Instead of doing the right thing, I let it go. Around Christmas of December, I got back in the gym and have been going at it since. I weighed in recently and have put on 20 lbs. I know I've put on quite a bit of muscle since going back to the gym, when, if ever, I get to goal I want to be pretty stout so I've been doing heavy weights to build muscle. I've been doing some intense cardio (in my opinion), I'm up to an hour a day, 20 miles, on the bike, says I'm burning about 730 calories per session. My problem is obviously my eating. I am absolutely petrified that my stomach has stretched. I did a week of liquids to see if things changed. I definitely felt smaller inside (if that's even possible), but am still able to eat whatever, etc. Of course once that happened, it was like being a pig at the trough with no restriction. I'm going in for a fill next week to get things checked out (my doc does all fills under flouro with barium swallow). I feel like I need a complete system reboot and start from scratch. Should I go on a week liquid diet before the fill in order to shrink my pouch? Would it even shrink? Also, some tips on how to get back in the "mode" of losing weight again would be great. My parents, although supportive, have started raising questions and wondering where the results are at. Any help would be great.

1) Your swelling has subsided. 2) Liquids in, liquids out 3) Acid mimics hunger. However, not all "acid medications" are created equally. If you are on an H2 blocker, you will not get the full effect of acid reduction. An H2 blocker treats the symptoms, H2 blockers are Zantac, Pepcid. Proton Pump Inhibitors/PPIs actually stop the acid from producing in your stomach and those are Dexilant, Prilosec, Nexium, Protonix, or any generic of those drugs. These drugs need to be taken on an empty stomach and some require a full hour wait time before eating, Nexium requires 30 minutes. OR, you can eat and take them 2-3 hours after eating. I choose to take mine first thing in the morning and wait an hour. Sometimes, you need to double up on the dose. Zantac, Pepcid never does anything for me. broth counts as a liquid. There is absolutely no reason to be alarmed with liquids. It's the sheer mechanics of your pyloric valve opening. Be grateful that you can get in that much liquid. It took me an hour to 8oz at 6 weeks post-op. We do not have pouches like RNY patients, there is no stoma. We have normal functioning stomachs, just smaller in size. Easy mental picture when you start progressing through the stages and learning about eating post-VSG: Think of your sleeve like a kitchen sink: Liquids : Dump liquids in, they slide right on down, empty into the drain. NO stopping Full liquids/thick liquids: Dump 3ounces of yogurt, cottage cheese, pudding down the drain; It will slide down the drain opening a bit slower, but you don't have to stir it around, or mush it through the sink drain. Mushy/puree: (this is where your teeth come in extra handy) you can dump some puree chicken salad/chili/egg salad down the drain and it's gonna sit there for a bit, it'll leak through, right? but it's going to take some time. So you might have to get a spoon to stir it around to get it to go down the drain. Soft Solids: Oh chewing is essential. You can toss some ground beef in the sink and it's not going down without some mushing down/stirring it around with the spoon to get it through the drain opening. . The stomach after surgery still isn't sure what to do with those soft protein/solids, so it's slow to work properly, and all the stomach really does is break down, mush down the food. 85% of Absorption of nutrients/calories etc etc occur in the intestine. Anyways, the meat is going to need some help to get down the drain. Gastric fluids, the mechanical work of the stomach, and chewing helps this process. This is when you really get the restriction. Measuring your mushy/purees and onto soft solids and Protein will keep you from overeating and puking or being in pain. Once you get to full liquids, still be cautious and measure out. Once you're on mushy/purees, always, always measure. Don't eat until full, eat the measured, prescribed portion and that will help you stay within your caloric intake for the day. The pyloric valve is what regulates how and when the food dumps into the intestines. That's why liquids don't offer restriction. Sip away, enjoy hydration so many of us struggled with being able to get in fluids. As time progresses, your stomach works better, transit time speeds up and you can eat a bit more. This is where the "sleeve stretching" posts come up. People think they've stretched something, when it really boils down to the stomach is just working properly.